1. Field
Embodiments of the disclosure relate generally to the field of compact storage of air-launched weapons systems and more particularly to a geometric location of a wing pivot for an air vehicle wing stored aligned with the vehicle fuselage and deployed to a operational position perpendicular to the fuselage with an aft shift of the aerodynamic center of the wing while remaining symmetrical in the deployed position.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cruise missiles and other air-launched or tube-launched air vehicles or reconnaissance systems must be stored in and launched from volumetrically constrained housings. A length-limited cruise missile may have a single piece wing that is stowed over or under the fuselage so that it is parallel to the missile axis. For maximum wing span with smallest volumetric size vehicle, wing 2 and fuselage 4 are of identical length and the wing is pivoted at the wing and fuselage center points 6. When deployed, the wing is perpendicular to the fuselage. However, in many cases, the optimum wing location for best aerodynamic balance and vehicle controllability is aft of the mid-point of the fuselage (shown as wing 2′ centered at point 6′). Moving the wing pivot aft on the fuselage either makes the stowed wing tip 8 extend beyond the fuselage in the folded or stowed longitudinal position as shown in FIG. 1 or requires the tips to be clipped to fit. The existing solution is to move the wing pivot aft and reduce the wing span to fit within the footprint of the fuselage. Reducing the wing span reduces the aerodynamic efficiency of the wing, with impacts of decreased range and mission effectiveness. Alternatively, ballasting of the fuselage to compensate for a centered wing location can be employed but similarly impacts effective range and performance.
It is therefore desirable to provide a wing pivot which displaces the wing aft during rotation for increased aerodynamic efficiency while maintaining a wing length as long as the fuselage and symmetrical positioning of the wing in the deployed position.
It is further desirable to provide the wing pivot mechanism with minimum complexity for reduced cost and system reliability.